[size=35]Report: Patriots' Spygate scandal was bigger in scope than first realized[/size]

By Frank Schwab2 hours agoShutdown Corner

[url=https://www.tumblr.com/share/photo?clickthru=http%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fblogs%2Fnfl-shutdown-corner%2Freport--patriots--spygate-scandal-was-bigger-in-scope-than-first-realized-140513497.html%3Fsoc_src%3Dmediacontentstory%26soc_trk%3Dtu&caption=As it turns out%2C the New England Patriots%27 Spygate scandal had a larger scope than we realized.&source=http%3A%2F%2Fl1.yimg.com%2Fbt%2Fapi%2Fres%2F1.2%2FwfYt9ASUxLlbbHytphZSrQ--%2FYXBwaWQ9eW5ld3NfbGVnbztxPTc1O3c9NjAw%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen_us%2FSports%2Fap%2F201509051145423147634.cf.png][/url]

New England Patriots football head coach Bill Belichick speaks before practice Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, in Foxborough, Mass. The Patriots host the Pittsburgh Steelers to open the NFL season Thursday night. (AP Photo/Bill Sikes)

As it turns out, Spygate had a larger scope than we realized.ESPN had a huge story on Tuesday morning, saying when the league investigated the New England Patriots in 2007 they were found to have "a library of scouting material containing videotapes of opponents' signals, with detailed notes matching signals to plays for many teams going back seven seasons." There were 40 games worth of tapes, ESPN said.

The tapes and notes were found, and then destroyed on commissioner Roger Goodell's orders: league executives "stomped the tapes into pieces and shredded the papers inside a Gillette Stadium conference room," the ESPN story said. And this all leads us back to deflate-gate, and Goodell's overreaction to it. The story said owners were upset with how Goodell handled Spygate. It's no secret to anyone anymore that Patriots owner Robert Kraft has been one of Goodell's biggest allies. In an emergency session at the league's spring meetings in 2008, Goodell told the owners cheaters would be dealt with forcefully, ESPN wrote. One owner told ESPN that deflate-gate was "a makeup call" for the spying scandal. Goodell, on ESPN Radio less than an hour after the Spygate story was published, said he hadn't seen the story but Spygate had nothing to do with the current scandal. "I’m not aware of any connection between the Spygate procedures and the procedures we went through here," Goodell told ESPN Radio. "We obviously learn any time we go through a process, try to improve it and get better at it, but there’s no connection in my mind to the two instances."The ESPN story goes into detail about how the Patriots used the taped information, highlighting a 2000 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In the preseason, the Patriots taped the Buccaneers' defensive signals. New England played Tampa Bay in the season opener. Backup quarterback John Friesz was told to memorize the signals in the preseason film, watch the Bucs' signals from the sideline during the regular-season game, relay the defensive play to offensive coordinator Charlie Weis who would relay them to then-starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, ESPN reported. Although the Patriots lost that game, ESPN said the Patriots knew 75 percent of the Buccaneers' defenses that day and the Pats "realized that they were on to something." A former Patriots assistant, who wasn't named, told ESPN the system of videotaping signals and cataloging signals "got out of control."

Maybe the most shocking tale comes way down in the story, after all the descriptions of the Patriots' spying, when former New England coaches and employees are cited as describing an even more effective cheating system:

"Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team's offense."

[size]Maybe you thought deflate-gate was dying down. Nobody figured on Spygate getting more fuel, eight years after the fact.(UPDATE — The Patriots responded to the ESPN story. Here's the team's statement, via CSNNE:“The New England Patriots have never filmed or recorded another team’s practice or walkthrough. The first time we ever heard of such an accusation came in 2008, the day before Super Bowl XLII, when the Boston Herald reported an allegation from a disgruntled former employee. That report created a media firestorm that extended globally and was discussed incessantly for months. It took four months before that newspaper retracted its story and offered the team a front and back page apology for the damage done. Clearly, the damage has been irreparable. As recently as last month, over seven years after the retraction and apology was issued, ESPN issued the following apology to the Patriots for continuing to perpetuate the myth: ‘On two occasions in recent weeks, SportsCenter incorrectly cited a 2002 report regarding the New England Patriots and Super Bowl XXXVI. That story was found to be false, and should not have been part of our reporting. We apologize to the Patriots organization.’“This type of reporting over the past seven years has led to additional unfounded, unwarranted and, quite frankly, unbelievable allegations by former players, coaches and executives. None of which have ever been substantiated, but many of which continue to be propagated. The New England Patriots are led by an owner whose well-documented efforts on league-wide initiatives – from TV contracts to preventing a work stoppage – have earned him the reputation as one of the best in the NFL. For the past 16 years, the Patriots have been led by one of the league’s all-time greatest coaches and one of its all-time greatest quarterbacks. It is disappointing that some choose to believe in myths, conjecture and rumors rather than giving credit for the team’s successes to Coach Belichick, his staff and the players for their hard work, attention to detail, methodical weekly preparation, diligence and overall performance.”[/size]

While we don’t know the exact extent to which the New England Patriots have bent or broken NFL rules over the last 15 years or so, one thing is certain — the paranoia from opposing teams borders on out of control.Sports Illustrated published a story on Tuesday that examines some of the suspicions teams around the NFL have had about the Patriots since Bill Belichick took over as head coach in Foxboro. Current and former employees of 19 NFL franchises told SI that their teams have taken precautions when playing the Patriots that they would not take against any other opponent. Common practices include cleaning out trash cans in hotels, running fake plays at practice and even finding a place to practice other than Gillette Stadium.But one suspicion seems even more intense than the rest, and that is the fear that the Patriots plant listening devices in the visitors locker room and other places.

Other precautions are extreme: At least five teams have swept their hotels, locker rooms or coaches’ booths in New England for listening devices, sometimes hiring outside professionals. None have been found.

Think about that for a second. Teams have actually hired outside contractors to determine if the Patriots are spying on them. That would be all well and good if they found something, but coming up empty means one thing and one thing only.The Patriots are in your head.Even one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time was worried Belichick and his cronies were spying on him when he visited New England. If you think that doesn’t take just a little bit of an opponent’s focus off the game, you’re wrong. When teams suspect the Patriots of cheating and have no proof, the Patriots have already gained a small advantage.

Remember back in 1992? Remember when John Madden and Pat Summerall were doing a Redskins-Cowboys game back then?Remember when John Madden talked very matter-of-factly about the practiced of videotaping the signal calling of coaches on the opposition teams in your own division?

No? You don't remember that? Well, here's a video of it to refresh your memory.

Now, remember that after Madden talked about this practice of videotaping coaches signals on national TV, there was this HUGE investigation? And remember someone lost a first round draft pick and was fined $1 Million for it? And remember that as a result of all the incredible attention and outrage that followed Madden's revelation of one team "spying" on another by videotaping coaches' signal calling that a Congressional investigation was begun, and U.S. Senators got involved? And remember that it was this HUGE deal that everyone just couldn't stop talking about?

WAIT. WHAT? All that reactionary outrage DIDN'T happen back in 1992? You mean nobody lost a draft pick, nobody was fined, and no Congressional investigation ever was started? You mean the "spying" and videotaping was not considered a big deal at all? In fact, it was not considered any kind of a deal at all? Seriously?

Hmmmm. Maybe the "outrage" all these years later is really fake, and actually just artificially ginned up and reserved for one team only. One team that wins a lot it seems. Hey, when one team wins too much, you can't take that lying down, or be a good sport and give them credit. Can't do that. You just gotta come up with something to discredit and smear them with, right?

New York Law School Professor Robert Blecker (not a Pats/Brady fan, in fact, actually says he dislikes the Pats/Brady) does an absolute total takedown of the phony psi scandal fomented in bad faith by a corrupt NFL front office.